α-H-α-Amino acid amides are readily available compounds and are important precursors in the production of pharmaceuticals and of α-H-α-amino acids. For example, enantiomerically enriched α-H-α-amino acids can be obtained from mixtures of D- and L-α-H-α-amino acid amides with randomly chosen enantiomeric excess (ee) by enantioselective enzymatic hydrolysis of one of the enantiomers of the α-H-α-amino acid amide. In such a process for the preparation of enantiomerically enriched α-H-α-amino acids, simultaneous racemization of the α-H-α-amino acid amides would be of great advantage because then complete conversion of the α-H-α-amino acid amide into the desired optically active α-H-α-amino acid is possible. Also, in other processes racemization of α-H-α-amino acid amides is often desired. As enzymatic racemization is preferable over chemical racemization (mild reaction conditions, environmental benefits, etc.), many attempts have been made to identify microorganisms with α-H-α-amino acid amide racemase activity and to isolate polypeptides with α-H-α-amino acid amide racemase activity and genes encoding this activity.